ABSTRACT
Few topics have generated the recent interest and attention of managers as has crisis management and crisis communication. Incidents such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plant accidents, the chemical leak at Union Carbide’s Bhopal, India, manufacturing plant, the Tylenol product tampering incidents, and the Challenger space shuttle explosion clearly demonstrated the severity with which crises can affect organizations and their many constituents. The likelihood of an organization experiencing a crisis has become so great that sociologist Charles Perrow categorizes crises as “normal.” Perrow (1984) said managers should no longer evaluate if an organization will ever face a crisis, but rather when, where, what type, and how large a crisis it will eventually encounter.
